Police arrested six people in an Uptown crime “hot spot” this week after a CPD surveillance camera team spotted a group of alleged gang members on CHA property. Among the men arrested: an admitted Black P Stone gang member who recently finished doing time for attempted murder. Police say he had a gun when they tried to stop him this week.
“Hot spots” are specially-designated high crime areas that receive special police attention.
Around 5:45 p.m. Sunday, officers watching surveillance cameras in the 20th District told patrol officers that a group of men were trespassing on CHA property in the 5000 block of North Winthrop.
As police approached the group, 36-year-old Keith Barnes looked in their direction, grabbed his waistband, and ran into the front door of the CHA complex, according to court records.
Cops chased him to the third floor where they heard a woman scream, “Get out of my house!”
“He don’t live here,” she reportedly told police. “He ran out the back door.”
Officers took Barnes into custody outside the building.
The woman gave police permission to search her apartment, according to police records. They found a gun underneath the mattress in a bedroom that Barnes allegedly ran through.
Police said in an arrest report that their body cameras recorded Barnes as he admitted to being a Black P Stone gang member for his entire life. He also told them he bought the gun for $350 in the Austin neighborhood, they said.
Prosecutors charged Barnes with being a felon in possession of a weapon and criminal trespass to state-supported land. Judge David Navarro ordered him held without bail.
CPD records show four other adults are facing criminal trespass to state-supported land charges in connection with Sunday’s incident. One of them is also charged with possession of 8.7 grams of crack.
Barnes was found guilty in 2003 of firing a gun into a group of men outside an apartment building on the 1500 block of West Pratt two years earlier.
One of the shooting victims said at trial that Barnes approached the group, got within five feet, and said, “What’s up, folks?”
Then, Barnes began shooting. One man was shot in the chest. Another was shot in both legs and a shoulder.
Barnes was sentenced to 25 years for attempted murder plus additional time for weapons and aggravated battery charges, but a judge later reduced the attempted murder sentence to 17 years.
